Astellas Evades Attacks on Cancer Drug Price as Critics Regroup

Pharmaceutical industry watchers are split on whether Astellas Pharma’s Xtandi will continue to be targeted by attempts to lower drug prices following the prostate cancer treatment’s absence on the Biden administration’s list of drugs subject to Medicare negotiations.

Xtandi has long been a costly drug for Medicare. In 2020, the agency’s Part D program spent $2 billion on the Astellas drug. Thus, when the Biden administration in August unveiled the list of drugs up for Medicare pricing negotiations, analysts, industry insiders, and Astellas itself were shocked. Astellas had sued the HHS to stop the program.

Lawmakers and other critics of ...